The present invention relates to a facsimile transmission and reception apparatus.
As is well known in the facsimile apparatus, image information read at a transmission site is converted into electric signals, which are then transmitted to a remote place, and the image information is reproduced faithfully at a reception site. Recently, facsimile apparatus has become widely used in the field of information transmission apparatus. In the facsimile transmission and reception apparatus provided with both a read head and a recording head, one unit comprising both transmission and reception apparatus can perform both transmission and reception. Therefore, when such apparatus is used in practice, one unit is used at the transmission site and one unit is used at the reception site. At the transmission site, read scanning is performed by use of only the read head, while recording scanning is performed by use of only the recording head.
With respect to the above-mentioned apparatus, it is desired to make the apparatus smaller in size and lower in price. Furthermore, improvement of operation and maintenance of the apparatus is also desired. However, in the conventional facsimile transmission and reception apparatus, the design is such that a transmission unit provided with the read head and other devices, and a reception unit provided with a recording head and other devices, are separately disposed horizontally or vertically. Accordingly, in each unit, there are disposed the driving system of each head and a transfer driving system for original documents and for the recording sheets. As a result, the body of the apparatus is comparatively large and accordingly, it is difficult to reduce the cost of the apparatus.
On the other hand, it is important that the maintenance of the apparatus and the operation of original document transporation system and attachment and detachment of the recording sheets be improved in addition to making the apparatus smaller in size and lower in price. For example, more specifically with respect to the original document transporation system, in the case where many and various types of information are handled in the facsimile apparatus, and image information is successively transmitted with many original document inserted individually into the apparatus, it is convenient that the discharged original documents be stacked in the order of pages after the read scanning. At the same time, when a system of inserting original documents with the image information bearing surface up is adopted and multiple original documents are inserted successively, the order of pages can be conveniently confirmed.